Description
This is the easiest way to make thick, lush, gooey vegan caramel sauce at home. Made with just 4 simple ingredients (no coconut milk!), you can make a salted version or omit the salt for classic caramel sauce. You’re never going to believe it’s dairy free- use it for cakes, ice cream, cheesecake, and more!
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup (200 g) organic granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp water
- 1/3 cup (90 mL) vegan heavy cream, room temperature
- 5 tbsp (76 g) salted vegan butter or coconut oil, room temperature
- 1 tsp sea salt
- Optional: 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla powder
Instructions
- Before beginning: Make sure you give yourself 1-2 hours before you need this caramel sauce for a recipe. It will take about 20 minutes to make, but if you want a thicker caramel sauce, you need to let it cool in the fridge.
- Prep: Measure out all ingredients.
- Dissolve the sugar: In a medium sauce pan (preferably non-stick, but it’s okay if that’s all you have- it can work), add in the sugar and water and mix until the sugar is wet. Use a pastry brush to wet the sides of the pan to prevent the caramel from sticking to the sides.
- Melt the sugar: Heat the sugar on medium to medium heat, stirring every so often with a heat-safe silicone spatula or whisk, until the sugar is bubbling and darker in color (more caramel like). With the wet caramel method, the sugar will appear wet, then bubble to these stiff bubbles, and then melt into clumps, and finally melt into a caramel colored sugar syrup. You have to make sure you continue to stir though!
- Stir in the vegan butter, and flavor enhancers: Add in the room temperature vegan butter, and whisk again on low heat until combined.
- Add in the heavy cream: Take the pot OFF the heat briefly. Then add in the ROOM TEMPERATURE vegan heavy cream. Stir constantly until the heavy cream is incorporated. If your cream isn’t integrating into the caramel, bring the pot back to heat and keep stirring until the sugar dissolves into the heavy cream. You can also stir in the sea salt and vanilla extract if desired. Stir until integrated.
- Heat: Now bring the caramel to medium-low heat, and allow the mixture to bubble for 1 minute without touching the caramel. If you want a lighter color caramel and/or slightly thinner, you can also add in more heavy cream here.
- Cool: Once bubbling, remove the caramel from the heat and pour into a heat-safe jar, bowl, or container. Cool the caramel in the fridge for at least an hour to thicken.
- Use and enjoy! Use your caramel in the recipe desired or as a topping! Refrigerate covered for up to 1 month.
Equipment
Buy Now → Notes
See blog post for all tips and tricks!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 tbsp
- Calories: 47
- Sugar: 6.1 g
- Sodium: 6.4 mg
- Fat: 0.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 6 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 0.1 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
